A dark dramedy from fledgling director and scribe Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, My Dead Friend Zoe follows a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran named Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) who is haunted by the presence of her deceased friend Zoe (Natalie Morales), who died in combat. Unable to shake the trauma-induced poltergeist, she develops a dysfunctional relationship with the friendly phantom in an effort to keep her life afloat. However, when her estranged grandfather Dale (Ed Harris) requires a caregiver, Merit offers her services in an effort to move forward.
“It is a story of friendship. Of sacrifice. Of grief. Of loss. And hope. It is a veteran’s story. Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, our writer-director, it is his story that he brought to life, in honor of a couple of his battle buddies. He is a veteran, served, and was given a mission to tell the veterans’ story,” explained star Martin-Green.
“I like to call her a guilt demon that’s always around. Sort of like if you knew the end of Fight Club at the beginning of Fight Club, and I would be Zoe Durden, said Morales.
Based on Hausmann-Stokes’s short film Merit x Zoe, My Dead Friend Zoe is the first film ever to be financed using green energy tax credits at Radiant Media Studios, which features Travis Kelce as an exec producer and is co-financed by Legion M.
